


Isolation

by Subtle_Shenanigans



Series: Dissassociation [4]
Category: Subnautica - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, jacksepticeye
Genre: AI, Bart Torgal's PDAs, Caraar Disease, Disease, Don't forget that agression/anger is a canon symptom of Caraar, False Memories, Gen, Isolation, Lava Zone maybe, Leviathans, Metaphorical Drowning, Pepper the Prawn Suit, Reaper - Freeform, Sally Seamoth, Sea Emperor, Sickness, Sorry Not Sorry, SubMaria, Survival, Wait I lies about the lava zone, YouTuber stuck in a video game concept, ghost - Freeform, near-drowning, save the potato, sea dragon, will do more Subnautica!Jack AU one-shots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-04-22 06:05:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14302449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Subtle_Shenanigans/pseuds/Subtle_Shenanigans
Summary: False memories, crash landing, and being the only surviving human on an alien planet. Yeah, Jack wasn't the best off.Oh, and there was the sickness, too.But despite being three months stuck without a person to talk to, he still had the chance and hope for survival.Oh!And the voice way deep in the ocean, if he was really desperate for conversation.A sequel toIt's quiet in the deep down dark deep down





	Isolation

**Author's Note:**

> Someone asked for more. So, uh, here's more?
> 
> Also - yes, I plan to eventually write another companion piece to _Glitching_ and _Echoing_ ; in just not sure if it'll be a prequel or a Jack letting Anti take control one. (So either _Upload/Corruption_ or _Distortion_ for the titles.)
> 
> Depression is being an absolute son of a hamster lately, so feel free to let me know if you want more of this stuff, but please also be patient.

_Isolation_

* * *

_The dark had wrapped around him; tendrils grasping his limbs and dragging him down, down, do w n -_

_He couldn't breathe; the tank was empty and the rebreather still firmly clamped in his mouth - his throat tightened and lungs burned painfully, as they choked on nothing._

_Blue eyes lost sight of blue sky as the void folded itself around him._

_And he knew nothing but the dark endlessness._

That is, until a voice spoke.

* * *

 

Jack was in his base, tinkering.

The disease made his hands feel somewhat numbed, and weak, but he kept them steady as he worked on the depth modules at the workbench.

It was a lot slower than the fabricator, and, at times, broke down so that he had to finish hand-crafting items, but in the end it would be worth it.

His base was silent, save from the low buzzing of energy through the walls.

It was ~~_terrifying_~~ maddening.

He blew a puff of air; he couldn't take it anymore. He had to do something, _anything_.

He never had been a quiet person.

 _Welp, guess there's not much left to do,_ he thought.

It started quiet, and scratchy ( _he hadn't used his voice in how long? Seldom to yell back at the AI, or scream mutely beneath the ocean, and way, way back in the beginning, when he chattered to himself frequently_ ); it hurt his throat, and probably sounded terrible.

But it was music to his ears.

Literally.

He began with the shanty, ' _Drunken Sailor_ ', but easily slipped into every song he knew or had composed with his friends for silly, ridiculous reasons. Any lyrics or tune he could grasp, he sang them.

He kept working, but eventually his voice gave out. Even then, he kept humming. Whistling. 

Anything was better than the absolute-feeling silence.

* * *

 Back when Jack still had his voice working at its highest levels (before he became quieter, subdued - isolation, sea air, and sickness will do that to you), he didn't have a plan past survival.

Contact was almost non-existent; all the other lifepods had been torn open, the people inside devoured. And he had yet to traverse the _Aurora_. He _did_ get that vague message from the _Sunbeam_ , but the irritation in the man's voice led him to believe that the planet would be skipped over.

It wasn't until after Jack got sick; after his meltdown, and after hearing the Voice from the great deep, did he formulate any sort of plan.

Obviously, the _Aurora_ was a must.   That radiation leakage wasn't doing the fish any good, and, by extension, him. And he needed his food supply to last and be as healthy as possible - he didn't need radiation poisoning on top of the disease.

Once that was over, he'd need to be prepared to go deeper - hence, his current work on the depth modules. It'd be hard to depart from the _Big Boss Base_ , but ultimately, when the time came, he would have to.

( _Of course, there was trepidation - the messages from that one Island; fearful, lonesome mourning left by ghosts. There had once been survivors here, from a different time on a different ship. But they decided to brave the oceans - to go down deeper than before._

_Jack remembered the poor Torgal kid's last message; they were not wanted deeper._

_So how could he even-?_

_To willingly descend into the darkening depths-_

_Well, at least, . . . the voice invited him_.)

Jack had already made it this far - he wasn't about to back out now.

"All the way," he muttered between the rhythm in his head, and shoving the worrisome thoughts away, "to effing victory town."

* * *

 The trip back to the _Aurora_ had been hell.

The Reaper was on little _Sally's_ tail both on the way there, as well as back - and the damned Welder almost ran out of power far too quickly.

Jack wished he had brought the Stasis Riffle - he would have been willing to test it out on that bastard monster. He was certainly angry enough to.

But it'd be pointless, and not worth the risk, quite frankly. He seethed as he returned to _BBB_ , catching as much fish as he could to cure for the long journey.

He had already loaded up _María_ with Growbeds (Marble Melons, Chinese Potato, and a single Lantern Tree.), and was saving as many waters from his filtration machine as he could. By time he got back, he immediately finished adding his supplies to _Maria_ , and put _Pepper_ in her underbelly. 

Jack was loathe to leave _Sally_ , anger prickling at his subconscious in regards to the Reaper.

Faintly, he wondered why he was more angry than scared.

He dismissed it as soon as he fell asleep for the final time in his Base.

* * *

 Jack honked the horn, greeting hoarsely, "Heeeeyy Reefies!!"

They responded with their deep, resounding call, and Jack couldn't help grinning in response. He loved the Reefbacks; they were just so gosh darn cool.

The Ocean around him was getting dimmer as he neared 400M, and he thought with a flicker of amusement of how freaked out Mark would be-

The thought came with a twinge of discomfort, as any sort of delving into his memories did. Almost three months in and he was _still_ having this memory issue. He let the thought flicker away, glad to come up with _some_ semblance of a memory and not passing out.

(Signe would have found this pretty cool.

Robin, too.

He then wondered about Ethan, and Felix, and Tyler, and-)

Jack was startled out of his thoughts as a Sandshark glanced off his hull, and he gave a sqwuak of indignation against it, all his previous thoughts drifting away like sand on the tide.

"Ya little _bastard_! Get the eff away from _María_!"

The Sandshark seemed to comply with a grumbled series of chomps.

Jack grinned cheekily to himself, feeling chipper than he had been in weeks. He couldn't fathom why, either. "Got my _María_ ," he patted the wheel, "and my little _Pepper;_ therecouldn't be anything better."

A Reefback called out, seeming to agree.

* * *

 

Jack stood there, hands tightly gripping the wheel, and faintly feeling the energy thrum through his Cyclops, despite being rigged for silent.

This-

it was-

just, what?!

He was flabbergasted, to say the least.

To imagine that this, _this!_ , could exist past the Blood Kelp Zone.

Jack's hands trembled as he gazed out upon the Lost River.

A river, in the depths of the ocean. It boggles his mind and yet here it was - sibilant and ethereal. Green, glowing sulphuric brine, and great roots of deep ocean plant crawling down into it. Glowing fauna and great, grasping ribs protruding from the mist. The haunting echoes of chirping rays, their own luminescence glowing tantalizingly in the dimness.

Jack shook himself out of his stupor. "No time for this jack-a-boy," he muttered. Voice grating like sand paper in the magnificence of this biome.

He didn't belong here.

He really, really didn't.

But he thought of the voice, and his own burning _need_ to reach the end, whatever it may be. The determination to continue on.

The want, to go home.

 _That_ is what finally moved him forward; an ache deep in his chest, hurting worse than his cracking skin or lost voice. 

He carefully brought _Maria_ forward, rigging her to silent, and activating his shield despite the power drain. Some unknown instinct gripped him.

_This is too much like a horror game._

Jack held his breath as he entered the cave, shoulders drawn tight and wheel held in a death grip. Blue eyes wide, and frantically searching. He passed through it. And then another. Bones loomed in the sickly pallored water. He nearly breathed a sigh of relief as he passed through another cavern, with a set of ribs hitting surface-ward.

Nearly, being the key word.

' _Warning! Creature Attack!'_

The ship listed to one side as what felt like a bartering ran smacked into it; shrieking voices from hell sounded, reverberating through the hull.

_'Hull damage detected!'_

_Shuttup!_ Jack thought to the AI,  gritting his teeth.

He yanked the wheel, maneuvering his sub and righting her.

He could see the final pass; if he could just squeeze through there, maybe he would make it-!

_-a shattering sound, metal torn around him and bubbles escaping from his mouth as his rebreather is ripped out, and the pressure is too much, he desperately grasps in the water around him for the sky-_

\- Jack's eyes are open wide, catching sight of the creature attacking him just as he hits the shield.

It shrieks once more, otherworldly, and it's transparent body seems to glow more fiercely. It bunches it muscles, ready to ram him, and he's almost certain that the shield can only hold out so much.

Savior comes in a familiar pull on his mind, vision wavering at the edges, as a loud, protective scream rumbles in the recess of his mind.

The Ghost Leviathin seems to hear it too, giving a sullen screech and swimming away.

It's silent, save for loud, red lights, and the occasional damage warning. Jack can almost hear his heart hammering - he can certainly hear his own heavy breathing.

He swallows air shallowly, tries to slow down. Swallows once, twice, until finally he can find his voice once more.

"Thank you," he whispers.

But the lovely deep voice is already gone.

* * *

 

Jack parks _Maria_ next to the ethereal tree, where the mantas are peacefully gliding, and the Ghost's eggs loom innocently and unthreatening.

As soon as he shuts down the sub he slumps to the floor, his earlier encounter still lingering in his veins. Hands shaking with adrenalin, or maybe exhaustion, he brings them up to come through his hair, settling almost instantly on his face.

He breathes heavily against his hands, eyes opening enough to focus on the glowing sickness.

 _You can do this, Seán_ , he thinks to himself. _You can get through this. You **will** get through this._

Despite being mentally exhausted, his mind latches on to the thought almost aggressively. He really does believe it though, and the reminder, even if it's just himself giving it, is enough to steady him.

Jack wouldn't lie; he felt lost, scared. Isolated. It was pants-pissingly _frightening_. But he would survive it.

He had too.

For his friends. For his ~~community~~ family. 

Even for himself.

And besides,

he peeks through his fingers, at the impossibly beautiful sight outside, and remembers the voice that has saved him not once, but twice,

just because he's isolated on this planet, doesn't mean that he's alone.

**Author's Note:**

> I forgot to cement it that, in the first piece, Jack's freak out takes place 3 weeks (give or take two days) _after_ the Aurora's main explosion, which takes almost a week to occur. After that is an unmentioned amount of time. So the beginning of this takes place almost two, maybe two and a half months after the initial crash-landing. Hence the given time in this piece.


End file.
